Speaking of things spiraling out of control: Pope Francis “Christians should kneel before poor,” Vatican conference blames “market economies” for global warming

Taking the last first….funny, I thought that communist/fascist China was by far the world’s most pollution-ridden country?  And what of all those areas of Russia that are still so environmentally destroyed from the Soviet days as to be basically devoid of life?  And what of the former socialist Eastern Europe, those are also some of the most polluted places on earth.  And EU countries, which are mostly socialist with a bit of market on top, are also major polluters.

This is just watermelons being watermelons, old commies using so-called environmentalism to advance their agenda and bash their old enemy, free enterprise.  What is surprising is that the Pontifical Academy of Sciences would give a platform to baby- and senior-murder advocating population control zealots.  This kind of thing did not happen under the previous pontificates:

Pope Francis is about to release his encyclical about global warming and is expected to advocate for cutting the fossil fuel use that he and others blame for temperature rises.

A Vatican declaration authored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS) and others who attended a meeting Tuesday on global warming. The document from participants of the meeting pushes for ditching market economies to fight global warming and environmental degradation.

“Fossil fuel exploitation has also taken a huge toll on human well being,” the PAS document reads.

“Market forces alone, bereft of ethical values, cannot solve the intertwined crises of poverty, exclusion, and the environment,” the document adds. “The move to a sustainable world will not be cost-free for all: the options we face are not ‘win-win.’”

“Present economic systems have been accompanied by the development of unacceptable gaps between the rich and the poor,” the PAS writes, “the latter still lacking access to most of the scientific and technical benefits that we have developed in the industrial world.” [I think Margaret Thatcher can explain my response to that the best:]

Judging by what participants of the Vatican’s climate meeting wrote, the Papacy could come out hard against market economies that utilize fossil fuels for development. But given the authors of the document, it shouldn’t be surprising. [I hope not.  There are general economic and social guidelines that can be laid down, but for a Pope to weigh in and say “fossil fuels are bad” is simply beyond any charism he possesses.  He could certainly give his opinion in a speech, but to do so in an encyclical, intended to be a formal document of formation/doctrine, would set an extremely bad precedent. For one, it would appear to politicize doctrine. And shall it be a sin if my vehicle doesn’t meet certain fuel efficiency standards?]

One of the authors is [screamin’ leftist]  economist Jeffrey Sachs who now heads up Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Sachs has been heavily backed by liberal philanthropist George Soros. Years ago, Soros donated $50 million to a project co-run by Sach’s nonprofit the Millennium Promise.

“To save as much of the sustainable fabric of the world as possible, we need to take many steps, among them reaching a level and sustainable population; [in other words, ever more rampant baby slaughter, fornication, and contraception]just consumption rates throughout the world; [then why doesn’t his backer George Soros adopt the poverty he wants to foist on the rest?  This is out and out communism – just consumption rates means someone deciding how much you get to produce and consume] the empowerment of women and children everywhere and their incorporation into the management of our one planet; [what does that even mean?] and the development of many new and more sustainable technologies that must be made widely available,” reads the PAS document, co-authored by Sachs. [All of which have been lavishly funded for years, and nearly all of which have failed miserably.  There is nothing, not wind, not solar, not hydrogen, nothing that can begin to compete with the economies of scale and efficiency of fossil fuels and nuclear, which is zero omissions but is another boogeyman of the left]

“With such achievements, hunger could be conquered, with one proviso concerning the distribution of food resources,” the PAS ads. “Without taking these steps, there is little hope for societal advance in the future.”

The other comment is even more strange.  Pope Francis, and this is reported on several Vatican news sites, says we should “kneel before the poor.”  That’s certainly an odd turn of phrase, to say the least:

Pope Francis said on Tuesday that poverty is the great teaching Jesus gave us and we can find his face among the poor and needy. Stressing that the poor are not a burden but a resource, he said he wished that both the city of Rome and the local Church community could be more attentive, caring and considerate towards those in need and that Christians could (the lede, and Zenit, have it as should) kneel before a poor person. The Pope’s words came during a video message which was broadcast at a charity theatre performance organised by Caritas Roma.

Some influential Argentines call Pope Francis “the Peronist Papa.”  It was certainly very Peronist to create a sort of idol of the poor.

But wait, there’s more!  In a daily homily at Case Sanctae Marthae, the Pope more popular with the world than with the faithful said:

The Holy Spirit, Francis underscored, not only makes us understand, but makes the Church move forward.

“We can study the whole history of salvation and all theology, but without the Spirit we cannot understand,” he said. [Well, that’s true.  Grace is a gratuitous gift of the spirit, but we can, at the same time, dispose ourselves to be more receptive to Grace by conducting our lives in the way that Christ – through the Church – has instructed us to do]

The Holy Father stressed it is the Spirit that makes us realize the truth or know Jesus’ voice: ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me. ‘

The Church’s going forward, Francis highlighted, is the work of the Holy Spirit. [And sure, that’s true. But God being One, Eternal, and True, He cannot contradict Himself. He cannot say to the Church of 500, “X is bad, don’t do it,” and then to the Church of 2015, “X is actually OK, you can do that.”]

“And how do I do this – you ask the Pope – make sure that voice I hear is the voice of Jesus, that what I feel I have to do is done by the Holy Spirit?”

Responding, Francis said: “Praying.”

“Without prayer, there is no place for the Spirit. [And yet the most faithful Catholics who pray so much are so very, very wrong?]

He invited those gathered to ask God to send them the Holy Spirit so that we may discern at all times what we have to do.

We must discern, the Pope stressed, and to discern, he said we must pray and ask for grace.

Francis warned against the mentality that if we do things the way we have always done, that we are safer, stressing, “The Christian life is not a museum of memories.” 

“But to do as you’ve always done,” he warned, “is an ‘alternative death.'”

And thus, the problem.  Pope Francis, for all his orthodox statements, has a habit of leaving these very nebulous, very leading statements dangling out there, seeming to put prior practice and belief in opposition to the “new direction” the Holy Ghost ostensibly demands.  That may not be what he intends, but that impression can certainly be gleaned from words such as these, and doing so is hardly a stretch.

And then there is the aura of novelty and hostility to the past, or tradition, that surrounds so many of his statements.  “To do as you have always done is an ‘alternative death.;”  What does that even mean?  And how much in contrast is such a statement to the guidance so many great Saints and Doctors have given us?  St. Paul says to reject any man, or even angel, who gives us a Gospel different from the one that Christ gave us.

Pitting these “new promptings” against the perennial belief and practice of the Faith is frankly something modernists like Cardinal Walter Kasper have been doing for generations.  Previously, they were most vociferously denounced by Popes such as Ven. Pius XII, Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Now, however, we receive regular statements that we must be ready for anything, even directions that will seem counter to our “museum of memories,” which I take to mean the past practice of the Faith.  I can’t imagine what else it could mean.

This is very sad.  The Church’s Tradition is a magnificent treasure of supernatural origin.  It is, aside from Grace, God’s greatest gift to His Church.  Perhaps Pope Francis simply has trouble expressing himself well, but statements like the above (and there have been many others that are similar) seem to demonstrate a certain lack of appreciation for the great treasure of Tradition, and seem to view it as an impediment to the Holy Ghost, which is impossible, since the Holy Ghost was its very author!

Goodness me.  I really do pray that Pope Francis is just cursed to constantly make very poorly worded statements, misunderstood by many if not all. I pray that out of charity for the poor man given such a terrible responsibility, but mostly because the alternative is too terrible to countenance. Even though, in the back of my mind……..

These are the times that try men’s souls. Lord, may I not fail.